Episodic Behavior of the Jordan Valley Section of the Dead Sea Fault Inferred from a 14-ka-Long Integrated Catalog of Large Earthquakes

Large earthquakes (magnitude &#8805; 7.0) are rare, especially along slow-slipping plate boundaries. Lack of large earthquakes in the instrumental record enlarges uncertainty of the recurrence time; the recurrence of large earthquakes is generally determined by extrapolation according to a magnitude-frequency relation. We enhance the seismological catalog of the Dead Sea Fault Zone by including a 220,000-year-long continuous large earthquake record based on seismites from the Dead Sea center (ICDP Core 5017-1). We constrain seismic shaking intensities via computational fluid dynamics modeling and invert them for earthquake magnitude. Our analysis shows that the recurrence time of large earthquakes follows a power-law distribution, with a mean of &#8804; 1400&#177;160 years. This mean recurrence is significantly shorter than the previous estimate of 11,000 years for the past 40,000 years. Our unique record confirms a clustered earthquake recurrence pattern and a group-fault temporal clustering model, and reveals an unexpectedly high seismicity rate on a slow-slipping plate boundary.Our results suggest that researchers may underestimate the seismic hazard potential of similar slow-slipping faults with irregular rupture. Our study highlights the potential of in situ deformed sediment layers in a subaqueous environment as a strong-motion paleo-seismometer to record long seismic sequences covering multiple recurrence intervals of large earthquakes. Long records are vital for accurate hazard assessment. Our quantitative method of seismic record reconstruction, with paleo-earthquake intensity (ground acceleration) and magnitude estimation, may also prove suitable for similar subaqueous environments along other faults.

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II.—The Jordan-Arabah Depression and the Dead Sea

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756800182445 ◽

1888 ◽

Vol 5 (9) ◽

pp. 387-395 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Israel C. Russell

Keyword(s):

Dead Sea ◽

Jordan Valley ◽

The West ◽

Surface Level ◽

Gravel Bar ◽

The Dead ◽

Definite Correlation

The occurrence of numerous terraces on the mountain slopes over-looking the Dead Sea has been reported by several observers, but no accurate measurements of their elevations or definite correlation of the terraces on the opposite slopes of the depression, seem to have been attempted. In the central part of the Wady Arabah on the west flank of the promontory known as Samrat el Fedan, a terrace, or perhaps more properly a gravel bar, has been observed by Hull at an elevation of about 1300 feet above the Dead Sea. This is apparently a definite record of the surface level of the Dead Sea during a former period. On the sides of the Jordan valley the terraces range in height from a few feet to 750 feet above the river. The measurements reported show great variation due principally to an inclination of the surfaces of the terraces, towards the centre of the valley, but indicating also that they are not horizontal in the direction of drainage.

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The Natural History of the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley. 1

Nature ◽

10.1038/090165a0 ◽

1912 ◽

Vol 90 (2241) ◽

pp. 165-166

Author(s):

T. G. B

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Dead Sea ◽

Jordan Valley ◽

History Of ◽

The Dead

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Depression of the Dead Sea and of the Jordan Valley

Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London ◽

10.2307/1797935 ◽

1848 ◽

Vol 18 ◽

pp. 77 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Edward Robinson

Keyword(s):

Dead Sea ◽

Jordan Valley ◽

The Dead

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A comment on: “A 48-kyr-long slip rate history for the Jordan Valley segment of the Dead Sea Fault” EPSL 260 (2007) 394–406

Earth and Planetary Science Letters ◽

10.1016/j.epsl.2008.01.018 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 268 (1-2) ◽

pp. 239-240 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Micha Klein

Keyword(s):

Slip Rate ◽

Dead Sea ◽

Jordan Valley ◽

The Dead ◽

Valley Segment

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Excavations at Jerusalem, 1961

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00029690 ◽

1962 ◽

Vol 36 (142) ◽

pp. 93-96

Author(s):

Kathleen M. Kenyon

Keyword(s):

Coastal Plain ◽

Political Power ◽

Dead Sea ◽

The Political ◽

Jordan Valley ◽

14Th Century ◽

The Dead ◽

East West

Jerusalem first enters written history as one of the towns of which the rulers were in correspondence with Egypt in the period covered by the Arnarna letters, in the first third of the 14th century B.C. It later appears in the Book of Joshua as a town of the Jebusites (a Canaanite tribe) who dwelt in the midst of the Israelites and were not conquered by them in the earlier stages of the entry into Palestine. It thus enters the historical stage as an important Canaanite town of the second half of the second millennium B.C. Its importance lies in its position. The physical configuration of Palestine with its north-south division of, from west to east, coastal plain—upland ridge—Jordan and Dead Sea Valley—plateau of Transjordan, means that a town dominating the backbone of the upland ridge is of major political importance, particularly when the coastal plain was under the control of alien powers, for the Jordan Valley route is not an important throughroute, owing to the spread of the Dead Sea from cliff to cliff of the valley. For most of the second millennium Egypt controlled the coastal plain, and from about 1200 B.C. onwards it was under Philistine domination. Jerusalem lies athwart the backbone of the upland ridge at a point where it is intersected by an important east-west route. The control of Jerusalem was therefore essential to the development of the political power of the Hebrews, who had infiltrated into Palestine in the second half of the second millennium B.C. Only when Jerusalem was captured by David about 995 B.C. could the Hebrew groups be combined into a nation.

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A river runs through it: tree frog genomics supports the Dead Sea Rift as a rare phylogeographical break

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society ◽

10.1093/biolinnean/blz076 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 128 (1) ◽

pp. 130-137 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Christophe Dufresnes ◽

Glib Mazepa ◽

Daniel Jablonski ◽

Riyad A Sadek ◽

Spartak N Litvinchuk

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Dead Sea ◽

Tree Frog ◽

Rad Sequencing ◽

Jordan Valley ◽

Niche Modelling ◽

The Dead ◽

The Rich ◽

Ecological Transition ◽

Hyla Savignyi

Abstract Phylogeographical breaks can be viewed as regional hotspots of diversity where the genetic integrity of incipient species is put to the test. We focus on an understudied species transition from the Middle East, namely the Dead Sea Rift in the Levant region, which presumably divided the tree frogs Hyla savignyi and H. felixarabica. Combining multilocus genetic analyses (mitochondrial DNA and RAD-sequencing) with ecological niche modelling, we test whether the rift effectively acts as a biogeographical barrier preventing this pair from admixing and merging. The answer is yes: despite weak signs of introgression, all parapatric populations were assigned to either species without cyto-nuclear discordance. Yet, the projected distributions under present and glacial conditions largely overlapped in the area, meaning their current parapatric ranges do not represent an ecological transition. Instead, we hypothesize that H. savignyi and H. felixarabica are maintained apart by limited opportunities for dispersal across the barren Jordan Valley, combined with advanced reproductive isolation. Therefore, the Dead Sea Rift may represent a rare phylogeographical break, and we encourage international efforts to assess its contribution to the rich biodiversity of the Middle East.

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